What do you do, or want to do, to foster a learning-friendly environment in your home? This was something I remember appreciating so much as a child. I felt like my home was a peaceful, enriching place. I felt like it was sophisticated, and special in a library-ish sort of way. And that made me want to take it all in. It made me want to be a learner. And this is not because it was anything grand. It was a quite small home in fact, and modest. But it was thoughtfully put together with an emphasis on learning, and exploration, and imagination.
The two most powerful staples of this environment were intangible – they were peace and music.
My home was full of grace and love, where silence was appreciated as equally as laughter. Where there was room for plenty of quiet reading, or writing, or thinking. Where introspection was not mistaken for introversion. Where open discussion of ideas and opinions was encouraged, without fear of criticism. Where I was free to explore under the loving guidance of supportive parents. This, I must say, was the most valuable aspect to my environment.
It was also, frequently, full of music. Classical music was the soundtrack of my childhood. My parents had a wide range of taste in music, between the two of them, but if there was to be music just playing in the background it would be classical. Through this I learned to recognize popular pieces. I studied the masters in history, I learned to play their pieces on piano, I danced to them in ballet classes, and I became an “old soul” through them.
Books were respected members of my household. Our modest “library” was another indispensable part of the equation. This consisted of two full-size bookshelves, a couple smaller ones stashed in various corners, and piles of random books just about everywhere else. And not just books but, like a library, magazines – especially old National Geographic (which I was allowed to cut up after a certain time for collages); records and cassette tapes of many types – especially the aforementioned classical music; VHS tapes – many of old classic movies and PBS documentaries; also maps – my mother was a huge map fan. 
Now, lots of these books were a tad, um . . . outdated. College texts from my parents days, an encyclopedia from the 70’s, and a set of even older Grolier’s Book of Knowledge (which I still have, and have hauled across the face of this dear Nation, just for nostalgia and giggles). This was, of course, supplemented with new books from my curriculum, book stores, and library trips.
There was a decades-old book on beginning a garden that I found on the shelf one winter that led me to totally take upon myself the planning, preparing, planting, weeding, composting, harvesting, etc. of our small family garden the following spring. I do not even have time here to discuss what I learned and the self-confidence I gained just from being given that liberty. Another ancient tome gave birth to a few week’s foray in flower arrangement, with less than stellar results.
My toys were a mix of “traditional” and “educational” as well. For Christmas and birthday’s I got some of the same commercialized gifts my friends did. But I also got calligraphy writing sets, a sewing kit, a chemistry set, a microscope and slides, a star-gazing guide, a vegetable growing guide, an ant farm. I had lots of toys for the imagination – albeit most of them gender specific, which never bothered me. And I was given freedom to play – mud pies were never frowned upon, and I was quite the master chef of the dirt domain.
There were so many neat things to “play with” around my house: my father was an engineer so there was always lots, and lots of graph paper. Oh, the things I can do now with graph paper. And his old-fashioned calipers and compass sets. My mother’s sewing machine, and (before we got a new-fangled word processor) electric typewriter. Art supplies, both of the kiddie variety and my mother’s paints.
Looking back, I did not have the newest, or most expensive in most of these things. My parents didn’t have room for a piano, so I made due with electric keyboards of increasing quality over the years. They did not want to opt for the most expensive items unless it was something to which I showed true dedication. They were far more concerned with providing variety, and they did that so well. But the quality of these materials – as far as their newness or expense, does not seem to have been a detracting factor – whereas their variety and availableness was a profoundly shaping force in my education and interests. The freedom I was given to use the typewriter, plant the garden, paint with the oil paints was so much more important than having the latest and greatest.
And I believe this shaped my affinity for somewhat old-fashioned things; and that was never discouraged. Now, I consider myself a thoroughly modern woman – who loves: ballet, classical music, English literature, embroidery – and gets warm and fuzzy feelings every time I encounter graph paper.
Tagged: about me, books, Charlotte Mason, classical, classical education, creativity, education, engineering, environment, exploration, hands-off, haven, Homeschooling, joy of learning, learning, music, old soul, old-fashioned, order, out-dated, peace, Philosophy, philosophy of education, Preschooling, stuff, unschooling
